A couple times a year, some “new report” makes the rounds on social media alerting us all to the fact that—ick, yuck, shudder—something or other has “more germs than a toilet seat.” This is apparently primo would-be-viral content, to judge by how often those headlines come up.
Ew, gross, right? You shudder, cringe, comment about hygiene practices … and then move on because what are you actually going to do about the fact that [the thing you can’t avoid touching] has cooties? Here’s what becomes clear after a few rounds of this: Every damn thing has more germs than a toilet seat—and one surprising reason may be that toilet seats actually aren’t that dirty, perhaps because people think they’re so dirty that they get cleaned a lot.
The dirtier-than-a-toilet-seat list includes cell phones, steering wheels, shopping carts, restaurant menus, and restaurant high chairs. It includes just about everything in the kitchen, starting with your sponges and cleaning cloths and going on to your cutting board and faucet. All of which are positively teeming with germs. Your clean laundry? Maybe not so clean.
In public, add on money, ATMs, elevator buttons, door handles, and … you know what? If a lot of people touch it, it is extremely dirty.
In short, guys, maybe this is not something to get so worked up about. Wash your hands, keep your possessions clean, and don’t click through to find out the shocking truth about TV remotes.